paulb

Hi Huw Similar to yourself I've been following the EU Cookies legislation. I've found a few resources you might find useful. There is quite a good discussion of the issue here (some of it from a general perspective and some of it from a drupal perspective) http://drupal.org/node/1153064 There is also a synopsis of the issue and how people are implementing changes here http://www.ixis.co.uk/blog/european-cookie-issue The solution civic have put forward is very good http://www.civicuk.com/cookie-law/index There is even a drupal module (7) and a wordpress plugin being developed http://drupal.org/project/cookiecontrol http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/cookie-control/ If you have found or find anything else you think is useful please let me know. Paul

Hi LukeeeeBennett PHP & MYSQL could handle this. Maybe a bit of Javascript or JQUERY for validation too. You would need to have a look at database design (for how you are going to structure your tables/what type of content to store in the tables [eg numbers/a set number of characters per cell/unique/primary key etc]). You would need to look at connecting php to mysql (CRUD - create, read, update and delete). PHP random functions. Testing for values in the db to make sure you are not adding a number that is already assigned [selecting existing data as an array and then comparing]. Hope that helps, Paul

Hi emmab21 As a basic concept you could insist on users submitting a form before they are able to view the downloadable content (this data could then be saved in a database or emailed to you). I'm not sure which language(s) your site is in or which scripts or languages you are familiar with but you can add as many data fields as you need to to the form itself. On submission of the form a javascript or php redirect could open the downloadable content in the browser, or php could be used to generate an automated email response (on the form successfully validating and saving) containing a link to allow the person to view the downloadable content Examples of this are: http://www.magentocommerce.com/download (you need to pick a version and then click download to see how they handle this) http://www.sitepoint.com/books/jquery2/samplechapters.php A more sophisticated version could include dynamic links to the downloadable content (to stop people sharing links). A good place to start with (if you are new to PHP) is Larry Ullman’s book http://www.amazon.co.uk/PHP-MySQL-Dynamic-Web-Sites/dp/032152599X/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334258344&sr=1-5 Stackoverflow is a great site for technical help if you get stuck. Some tutorials/pointers which look quite useful are listed below: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2643361/html-php-form http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2161746/how-can-i-save-my-form-in-a-mysql-database http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6049362/php-form-problem-with-reply-e-mail http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9203874/form-respond-with-an-html-email http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5210624/redirect-php-form-on-successful-submit Hope that helps, Paul

Hi historygirllfc This sounds like a different book but these is a nice section on typography in Mark Boulton's Designing for the Web. Link Paul

It depends on the complexity of the project and which interface that particular client finds most intuitive. For a web development project Drupal, Wordpress or Modx For e-commerce Prestashop, Magento [or Drupal Commerce/Ubercart] Modx has a nice 'tree' display of site's pages some clients like but involves a lot more custom code than other CMSs (which is fine but for some projects increases the development time over wordpress or drupal) Modx aside I reckon Wordpress is the easiest to use and Drupal is the most extendable (though the api has a large learning curve). Prestashop has a nice graphical interface for clients. Magento over time has grown on me, from a user point of view it has been put together really comprehensively [the backend is something I'm still learning] The best feature Drupal has is its community. I like using Drupal and Prestashop - I always use open source where possible.

Thank you for your reply. I am quite happy with the tax rules it was more a question has anyone actually built a feature to cover an aspect like the threshold (the level where the tax rate changes from domestic to local (the place where the customer lives) [the level where you have to register for that location as well as your own]. Quite a lot of the e-commerce systems I have used or researched have a functionality for recording a persons local VAT number (maybe validating that number with VIES api too) but no more. I was just wondering if anyone has been asked to build anything around the rules or do most sites not specifically cater for them. I quite happy to build something if the client wants to I'm was trying to find out how people generally handle this. Paul

Thanks for your replies. Paul

I'm building a shop for a client who is based in the UK but has also customers in Europe, Canada, USA and Australia. Do you take into account any special requirements when setting up a shop to sell goods domestically and abroad? I've been looking into the VAT obligations they face (thresholds, rates and records). I was just wondering how much of the complexity you normally build into the e-commerce system [with regards to rates, thresholds, exemptions and records - eg if a client sells a good to an individual based in Germany do you record their MwSt registration number?] Any guidance would be much appreciated Paul

Hi Lovelock I think the redirection isn't occuring as the php headers have already been sent and an error is being generated. Have you got php error reporting turned on? If not I would advise you to turn it on http://php.about.com/od/troubleshooting/qt/php_error_reporting.htm Your idea is fine - your code just needs a few tweaks. A good example of a basic form with a similar problem can be found here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4943768/simple-php-form-redirect The header example produced by blasteralfred is equivalent to your code sleep(10);//seconds to wait.. header("Location:http://www.vinylpenguin.co.uk/page.php"); Paul

Hi Emac Companies have to list certain pieces of information. The law firm Pinsents Masons offer a really good website outlining some basic guidance. http://www.out-law.com/page-7594 Paul

This one seems pretty good (drupal, wordpress, magento all picked up but not Modx) http://onlinewebtool.com/cmsdetector.php There is also a FF addon http://wappalyzer.com/ Paul

Hi Jordan You might already know this. That part of the site looks to be generated by the finder module. http://drupal.org/project/finder I haven't used this module so I'm not familiar with it. I have had a quick look in the issue queue and there and I couldn't see a similar issue. In the first instance I would suggest backing up the site and then updating the module (if necessary) and then configuring the form again. Which version of Drupal are you using? Drupal 6 has more documentation and downloads than 7 at the moment. Drupal 6 version http://drupal.org/node/1339314 Drupal 7 version http://drupal.org/node/1339316 Paul

Hi Kensha The best book I have read on javascript is JavaScript: The Definitive Guide http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0596805527/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0596101996&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=020KMN3CCV2GH8CP0SNG It written from purely a theory point of view - there are no fleshed out examples. It is also an excellent reference. I have the 5th edition - a sixth edition was released in May. O'Reilly have a pretty good collection of javascript books http://oreilly.com/javascript/index.html They have classed the aforementioned book as an 'Intermediate' title and they have a selection of other 'Intermediate' and 'Advanced' books along with their more basic titles. Another book I would consider is quite an advanced javascript title is: Professional JavaScript for Web Developers (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Professional-JavaScript-Developers-Wrox-Programmer/dp/047022780X/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323629103&sr=1-6 The wrox style is slightly more practical (they show you examples which you could test) but again really there are not any there are no fleshed out examples. Hope that helps. Paul

Hi Gary I might have completely missed what you are trying to do but I would use the function Spitfire posted. html_entity_decode($string); For example $string = '»'; $new = html_entity_decode($string); echo $new; Paul

O'Reilly are offering the above mentioned e-book free for the next day or so. Bought it a few weeks ago and still working through it but it seems quite useful. I can't post a link but you can find the offer on their homepage.